Local Food I Flashcards
What is local food?
describes the relatively short geographic distance between where the food is produced and where the food is consumed
Why is the definition of local food difficult?
The definition of local food is arbitrary since it is difficult to draw a line across a geographic region to mark the end of a local area with respect to your household.
How do isolated communities define local food?
Isolated communities may consider food from long distances to be local because they are far away from adequate growing conditions for a crop
What are the 2 main forms of communicating that its actually local food?
Directly talking to farmers
Area of origin and descriptive information of label
What is the 100mile diet?
Choosing a 100-mile geographic limit on where they could get their food from
What are the 4 benefits of a local food system?
Environmental
-Potential greenhouse gas emissions reduction, farm aesthetics, and wildlife habitat
Social
-Chance to influence the opinions and practices of others, contributes to food security, and meets the demand for special products
Health
-Improves freshness, nutrient content and taste, and uses Canada’s strict food safety rules
Economic
-Increasing local food production increases local jobs for other services
what is the benefit of eating locally?
Reducing GHG emission from transportation
-burning fossil fuel
Maintaining diversity fro sustainability
- producing variety increase biodiversity of growing systems
- Crop rotation provides ecosystem services
- more sustainable growing system
Preserving Local farmland
-farmland preserves features of the land like hills, ponds lakes etc.
What are the social benefits to buying local?
People like buying from farmers and making connections
Discussions are had about the food, threats, and food system
Farmers market can supply fun, unusual and unique foods
What are the 3 benefits of buying local what reflect health?
Fresh
Bettre tasting
Nutritious
Why are local products more fresh?
Freshness is associated with food when there is little time between picking and eating
- Farms that are geographically close can transport fresh food in little time
- Good appearance, vibrant colour, no defects, firm, and aromatic
Why is local food better tasting?
local food does not necessarily taste better but it is the time between picking and consumption that really matters
-Local food that is harvested ripe and transported quickly tends to taste better than non-local food that was harvested unripe in order to withstand long transport times.
Does local food taste better than non local food?
local food does not necessarily taste better but it is the time between picking and consumption that really matters
Why is local food more nutritious?
A short time between picking and eating retains the maximum nutrients that fresh foods offer
-During transport and the retail sale period, nutrients like vitamins and antioxidants degrade
what are the economic benefits of local food?
Supporting local businesses
-leads to multiplier effect in community
What is the multiplier effect?
the increase in local economic activity that results from spending on a new item
What is redundant trade?
Delivery trucks with peaches from the United States and from Canada pass each other going in the opposite direction
What are the environmental challenges with local food?
Difficult to identify fuel efficiency per food item, and production is sometimes more efficient overseas
What are the social challenge with local food?
Replacing local grains production for other foods will limit global supply
What are the health challenges with local food?
A lot of healthy food is only available seasonally and many foods we enjoy are not grown in Canada
What are the economic challenges with local food?
Developing countries depend on exports for economic growth
IS the energy emissions different if local or grocery store food is purchased?
Its not simple
-If people drive far away for local food items then their energy emissions are added to the overall emissions created while transporting the food from the field to a household
What are food miles?
measure how far the food has travelled
Are food miles a descriptive measure of environmental impact?
They are not descriptive measurements of the environmental impact of food transportation
What other environmental factor impacts transportation?
The type of vehicle used to transport
- trains, ships are more efficient by using less fuel
- Airplanes are inefficient
Is local food more environmentally sustainable than regular food?
The environmental impact of a food product depends on how it was grown or raised
-In some circumstances local, high-input production may be less sustainable than imports
What needs to be re-evaluated constantly in terms of sustainability?
The sustainability of production systems will need to constantly be reevaluated since there is not a simple solution
How will the shift of production will reduce the global supply of staple foods?
Replacing imports with local food production will require more area planted to fruits and vegetables
-EX: As land is diverted from cereals production to fruit or vegetable production, fewer cereals will be exported
How does eating only seasonal food reduce variety?
By welcoming the food choices that are imported to Canada during the off-season, meals are diverse and people enjoy eating.
-by repeatedly eating the same food we become accustomed to the flavours and textures, then the pleasure of eating it decreases
What is the top fresh fruit import to Canada?
Bananas
What are economic challenges for rural/poor communities?
Food is one of the few products economically disadvantaged countries can sell to the West.
-these communities depend on exports to wealthy countries
If developed countries collectively reduce the demand for imports it is expected to make economic development even more difficult for developing countries
What is the UN trying to do for poor rural farmers?
Improve export access
-they describe that trade distributes money from rich countries to the poor. The new source of income will multiply throughout the community as the income is distributed to the people who provide goods and services to the farmer. Employment is, therefore, stimulated in other sectors in poor communities.
What are the ways to source local foods?
Community supported agriculture Farmers Markets Pick your own Farm to school Programs Grocery Store
What is community supported agriculture?
In a CSA program the farm will make a portion of the expected harvest available as a ‘share’ for purchase before the food is ready
Customers share some of the risk of food production by paying the same amount in a prosperous year as a challenging year
What is agritourism mostly?
An experience rather than a weekly source of food
What are the possible careers related to local food?
Summer work experience Production Community Organizations Government Research
